WWW Wednesday What Am I Reading? #amreading

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

I recently started LIFELIK3 by Jay Kristoff. I’ve only read Nevernight by this author and it was an okay read for me, but I’m warming up to this one pretty fast.

On a floating junkyard beneath a radiation sky, a deadly secret lies buried in the scrap.

Eve isn’t looking for secrets—she’s too busy looking over her shoulder. The robot gladiator she’s just spent six months building has been reduced to a smoking wreck, and the only thing keeping her Grandpa from the grave was the fistful of credits she just lost to the bookies. To top it off, she’s discovered she can destroy electronics with the power of her mind, and the puritanical Brotherhood are building a coffin her size. If she’s ever had a worse day, Eve can’t remember it.

But when Eve discovers the ruins of an android boy named Ezekiel in the scrap pile she calls home, her entire world comes crashing down. With her best friend Lemon Fresh and her robotic conscience, Cricket, in tow, she and Ezekiel will trek across deserts of irradiated glass, infiltrate towering megacities and scour the graveyard of humanity’s greatest folly to save the ones Eve loves, and learn the dark secrets of her past.

Even if those secrets were better off staying buried.

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, this one may surprise you. I just finished Royals by Rachel Hawkins. Definitely not my typical read, but I was in the mood for something light and from a prior read, knew this author’s humor has snort-a-drink-through-your-nose potential. Loved this light-hearted, humorous read and thrilled to learn there’s a sequel in the future.

Meet Daisy Winters. She’s an offbeat sixteen-year-old Floridian with mermaid-red hair; a part time job at a bootleg Walmart, and a perfect older sister who’s nearly engaged to the Crown Prince of Scotland. Daisy has no desire to live in the spotlight, but relentless tabloid attention forces her to join Ellie at the relative seclusion of the castle across the pond.

While the dashing young Miles has been appointed to teach Daisy the ropes of being regal, the prince’s roguish younger brother kicks up scandal wherever he goes, and tries his best to take Daisy along for the ride. The crown–and the intriguing Miles–might be trying to make Daisy into a lady . . . but Daisy may just rewrite the royal rulebook to suit herself.

Next up is an ARC of Love and Squalor by Jessica A. Scott.

Luthertown Heights isn’t anyone’s idea of paradise. Gangs run the streets, fighting and killing to claim territory, and the other residents struggle just to get by.

While most of the population hides behind ragged curtains and chipped concrete walls, one woman dares to venture out into the streets. As the leader of an after school care program at the local YMCA, she strives to teach the children of this embattled city that there is more to life than violence and hate.

The only thing she wants in return is someone, anyone, to call her by her real name.

Known only as “White Girl” to her neighbors, she wishes so much to be embraced by the community that she loves. Instead, though, she finds herself thrust into the middle of a war between two of the city’s most lethal gangs.

Armed only with her indefatigable optimism and the unexpected protection of a mysterious gang member known only as Slipknot, she must fight to ensure a better future for her city – and herself.

The closer she grows to a solution (and to Slipknot), the more she has to lose as the city becomes a war zone. Can she find a way to convince her community that Luthertown Heights is worth saving? Or is it useless to think that she could find love amongst the squalor?

I don’t know how I feel about Jay Kristoff books. I read Illuminae and wasn’t a fan. I tried to read Nevernight and ended up putting it down and never picking it up again. I’m curious about LIFELIK3, but am also scared to read it since I don’t seem to click with his writing. I’m interested in reading Royals. It sounds like something I would like.

After reading Nevernight, I was skeptical, and I haven’t read Illuminae, but this one has a different feel – nothing like Nevernight. Give it a try when it’s released. Royals was a blast from beginning to end!